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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Source Code - Movie Review

Source Code - Movie Review

Again, I hate to start a review like this, but I've never been a big Jake Gyllenhaal fan. I don't dislike the guy, but I never really thought anything of him either. Nothing really stands out about him for me. I guess I would say that he's a capable actor. I was also leery of this movie because of the use of the term 'source code' as the title. As a former programmer (I was a Computer Science major), I don't like when computer terms get thrown around when you don't quite know the context. Where they just trying to be cute or trendy with the title here?

Having said that, this might be my favorite Jake Gyllenhaal movie after Donnie Darko now. I really liked this. It was quick, interesting and fun. I would say don't let the trailer, or the title, put you off from the movie. The movie does a pretty good job of gradually explaining things so you aren't confused or overwhelmed by the sci-fi elements of the movie. There's even a bit of a twist in this that made the movie that much better to me.

I enjoyed all the performances here. Michelle Monaghan was cute as hell again.

You might think this is another Groundhog Day, but you'll quickly forget that comparison while watching this. I actually had more of a Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 vibe at parts of this movie, with a bit of Out of Time thrown in. Wait, is that the right Denzel Washington movie I'm thinking of? Deja Vu! That's the movie I meant to say. How many Denzel Washington movies can I reference here? Training Day, Fallen, Virtuosity, The Hurricane, Man on Fire, Remember the Titans, Book of Eli. What do I win? None of those movies are relevant to this review though.

Overall, this was a pleasant Sunday afternoon matinée. I recommend this to anyone that wants to see a short, smart action/sci-fi movie.

I'll do my recent DVD reviews later this week. I've been watching Mad Men: Season 4 the past week, so I haven't watched a lot of new DVDs recently.